Lupus/Epidermal/lupus

QuestionMy daughter had a baby c section in December the doctor or nurse gave her an epidural injected the needle 4 times before it was correct very painful now all of a sudden a week or so later she has kidney lupus and tumeroid arthritis she's never had health problems before she's been asking questions about it with the doctor and gets no answers can the lupus and arthritis be due too the many times the epidural was injected this doc or nurse was a rookie from my knowledge

AnswerHi Jeannine-

I'm so sorry to hear about the terrible epidural experience.
I'm sure it was very stressful both to her emotionally and to her system overall.
My hunch is that it was not the sole cause of her autoimmune conditions, but could have the sort of the "last straw."

Many women have their first lupus episode during or just following pregnancy, as that itself is a major stressor to the body.

The general belief right now is that lupus and other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are caused by multiple issues, not one single thing. As I believe Dr. Oz would put it "Genetics loads the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger."

What that means is, we may have certain tendencies in our genes that make us more susceptible to an illness, but that illness will never occur unless the body runs up against enough problems that it can't stay healthy anymore. Those problems can be stress, lack of sleep, vitamin and mineral deficiency, air, water, and other pollution, etc.

Mainstream medicine can at least keep us from dying of these illnesses within a few years, but the medications are loaded with scary side effects. For this reason, when I've been in danger myself from lupus involving my kidneys (I was diagnosed with lupus and lupus nephritis, which is the same thing as kidney lupus in 1993- and I'm currently on no lupus drugs nad my kidneys are back to normal function).... I have used the immune suppressants to get out of danger, then immediately turned to alternative medicine and diet change to get myself off those drugs as soon as safely possible.

Here is an article that I think you and your daughter might find helpful.

Expertise

I can answer questions such as "what is lupus?" (How common is it? Is it contagious? What are the symptoms? etc.). Also, I can answer questions such as "what are the available treatments for lupus?" (both standard and alternative). Really, I'll take almost any question on lupus, though. If I can't answer it, I'll be very surprised, but I'll also go find someone who can.

Experience

I've been living with lupus (SLE) since 1992. I've had three severe bouts with it, including symptoms such as kidney failure and stroke (if you can call having a stroke a "symptom"). I have completely regained my health, though I have to be mindful to take care of myself, lest I get sick again. I use both mainstream and alternative medicine, and have tried just about everything under the sun to alleviate symptoms. A lot of it worked.